Characterizing channel response using data tone decision feedback

ABSTRACT

In addition, to pilot tones which may be existent within an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) signal, one or more data tones within that same signal may be employed to assist with channel estimation (alternatively, detection). Once a data tone qualifies as a pseudo-pilot tone, it may be used with the pilot tones for channel estimation. A qualifier considers slicer error associated with hard decisions for a data tone to determine if it is a candidate for assistance within channel estimation. A frame within an OFDM signal may, in one situation, include no pilot tones at all, and a previously calculated channel estimate may be used to process that frame. In addition, fewer pilot tones than needed to perform accurate channel estimation (based on the channel delay spread) may be employed by using one or more pseudo-pilot tones (e.g., qualified data tones).

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENTS/PATENT APPLICATIONS Continuationpriority claim, 35 U.S.C. §120

The present U.S. Utility Patent Application claims priority pursuant to35 U.S.C. §120, as a continuation, to the following U.S. Utility PatentApplication which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in itsentirety and made part of the present U.S. Utility Patent Applicationfor all purposes:

-   -   1. U.S. Utility patent application Ser. No. 12/340,596, entitled        “Characterizing channel response using data tone decision        feedback,” filed Dec. 19, 2008, pending, and scheduled        subsequently to be issued as U.S. Pat. No. 8,229,036 on Jul. 24,        2012 (as indicated in an ISSUE NOTIFICATION mailed on Jul. 4,        2012), which claims priority pursuant to 35 U.S.C. §119(e) to        the following U.S. Provisional Patent Applications which are        hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entirety and        made part of the present U.S. Utility Patent Application for all        purposes:        -   1.1. U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/008,564,            entitled “Apparatus and method for characterizing channel            response using data tone decision feedback,” filed Dec. 21,            2007, now expired.        -   1.2. U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/008,566,            entitled “Apparatus and method for characterizing channel            response based on composite gain determination,” filed Dec.            21, 2007, now expired.

Incorporation by Reference

The following U.S. Utility Patent Applications are hereby incorporatedherein by reference in their entirety and made part of the present U.S.Utility Patent Application for all purposes:

-   -   1. U.S. Utility patent application Ser. No. 12/340,603, entitled        “Characterizing channel response based on composite gain        determination,” filed Dec. 19, 2008, pending.    -   2. U.S. Utility patent application Ser. No. 10/112,567, entitled        “Characterizing channel response in a single upstream burst        using redundant information from training tones,” filed Mar. 30,        2002, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,139,331 B2, issued on Nov. 21, 2006.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Technical Field of the Invention

The invention relates generally to communication systems; and, moreparticularly, it relates to performing channel estimation within suchcommunication systems.

2. Description of Related Art

Data communication systems have been under continual development formany years. Generally speaking, within the context of communicationsystems that employ various types of communication devices, there is afirst communication device at one end of a communication channel withencoder capability and second communication device at the other end ofthe communication channel with decoder capability. In many instances,one or both of these two communication devices includes encoder anddecoder capability (e.g., within a bi-directional communication system).Transferring information from one location to another can be appliedgenerally within any type of communication system, including those thatemploy some form of data storage (e.g., hard disk drive (HDD)applications and other memory storage devices) in which data isprocessed and/or encoded before writing to the storage media, and thenthe data is processed and/or decoded after being read/retrieved from thestorage media.

Certain communication systems employ one or more of various types ofcoding (e.g., error correction codes (ECCs) whose decoding may beperformed iteratively) to ensure that the data extracted from a signalreceived at one location of a communication channel is the sameinformation that was originally transmitted from another location of thecommunication channel. Communications systems with iterative codes areoften able to achieve lower bit error rates (BER) than alternative codesfor a given signal to noise ratio (SNR).

In addition, various types of communication systems may employ one ormore of various types of signaling (e.g., orthogonal frequency divisionmultiplexing (OFDM), code division multiple access (CDMA), synchronouscode division multiple access (S-CDMA), time division multiple access(TDMA), etc.) to allow more than one user access to the communicationsystem. Such signaling schemes may generally be referred to as multipleaccess signaling schemes.

In accordance with processing signals transmitted across a communicationchannel within such communication systems, one function that isoftentimes performed is that of channel estimation. From certainperspectives, channel estimation (sometimes alternatively referred to aschannel detection, channel response characterization, channel frequencyresponse characterization, etc.) is a means by which at least somecharacteristics of the communication channel (e.g., attenuation,filtering properties, noise injection, etc.) can be modeled andcompensated for by a receiving communication device. While the prior artdoes provide some means by which channel estimation may be performed,there is an ever-present need for better and more efficient channelestimation approaches that intrude as minimally as possible in themaximum and overall throughput that be achieved for signals transmittedacross a communication channel within a communication system.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 illustrate various embodiments of communicationsystems.

FIG. 3 illustrates an embodiment of an apparatus that processes anorthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) signal to performchannel estimation.

FIG. 4 illustrates an alternative embodiment of an apparatus thatprocesses an OFDM signal to perform channel estimation.

FIG. 5 illustrates an embodiment of an apparatus that includes a slicerand a qualifier to process an OFDM signal to assist with channelestimation.

FIG. 6 illustrates an embodiment of pilot tones and data tones within anOFDM signal.

FIG. 7 illustrates an alternative embodiment of pilot tones and datatones within an OFDM signal.

FIG. 8A illustrates an embodiment of a method for performing channelestimation.

FIG. 8B illustrates an alternative embodiment of a method for performingchannel estimation.

FIG. 9A illustrates an embodiment of a method for employing and updatinga channel estimate.

FIG. 9B illustrates an alternative embodiment of a method foreffectuating a modulation order change.

FIG. 10 illustrates an embodiment of a method for employing variouschannel estimates to process a signal.

FIG. 11 illustrates an embodiment of a method for employing variouschannel estimates to process a signal.

FIG. 12 illustrates an embodiment of weighting of frames, based on pilottones included therein, when performing channel estimation.

FIG. 13 illustrates an embodiment of weighting of frames, based ontime/memory, when performing channel estimation.

FIG. 14 illustrates an embodiment of selectively employing data toneswhen performing channel estimation.

FIG. 15 illustrates an embodiment of selectively grouping data tonesand/or pilot tones when performing channel estimation.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), the channelestimation (e.g., alternatively referred to as channel frequencyresponse characterization, channel frequency response estimation,channel detection, etc.) of a communication channel is generallyestimated so that its results may be applied to each data tone (DT)within the OFDM signal (that may also include pilot tones (PTstherein)), in order to adjust the gain and phase of the received datatone for slicing (e.g., assuming some order of quadrature amplitudemodulation (QAM) modulation on the tones, such as quadrature phase keyshifting (QPSK)/4 QAM, 16 QAM, 64 QAM, 256 QAM, 1024 QAM, or other QAMorders (e.g., even higher) or even different modulation types havingshapes different than QAM, such as 8 PSK, which may have even a higherorder of modulation).

If pulse amplitude modulation (PAM) is employed as the modulationscheme, then only gain adjustment (as determined from channelestimation) is needed. The channel frequency response, if static,requires sampling in the frequency domain (by sampling the pilot tones(PTs) [alternatively referred to as training tones (TTs)] within thesignal), to estimate the frequency response (or equivalently, the timedomain impulse response), across the entire communication channel.

The spacing of the PTs (in the frequency domain) needs to besufficiently close to satisfy the sampling theorem (e.g., Nyquisttheorem), depending on the length of the pertinent amount of energy inthe impulse response. However, the closer that the PTs are spaced, thenthe less efficient is the use of the time-frequency dimensions availablefor signaling (data transmission); this directly can reduce the overallthroughput of a signal transmitted across the communication channel.

Using more PTs than required, by sampling theory, also inherentlyreduces the efficiency of the transmission, but it may improve thechannel estimation (by providing more samples, allowing reduction ofnoise variance). If the channel frequency response is time-varying(dynamic), then averaging the channel estimation over time may alsobecome problematic. Therefore, the dynamics of the changing channelresponse (which consequently makes for changing/varying channelestimates/estimations) must be balanced against the noise smoothing indetermining the way in which multiple OFDM frames (or other multipleOFDM signal portions) are weighted if more than one frame is used forchannel estimation.

Various forms of interferences may deleteriously affect the pilot tonesand introduce a gain change that is rapidly varying compared to otherchanges in the channel in cable system applications, but suchinterference may also be common to all tones across the channel. Onesuch form of deleterious interference may be that of amplitudemodulation of a signal, and one such type of amplitude modulation may behum modulation (e.g., such as that incurred by various electronicdevices within a communication system that perform some type of signalrectification of an alternating current (AC) signal thereby generating adirect current (DC) signal). This hum modulation oftentimes has certainfrequency components that are integer multiples of the power systemfrequency (e.g., hum modulation at 120 Hertz (Hz) in North America, andoftentimes 100 Hz in other regions of the world, based on power systemfrequencies of 60 Hz and 50 Hz, respectively).

By isolating this common component of the gain on each data tone, fromthe rest of the channel estimate, a much longer smoothing time (e.g.,more frames or more of a signal) can be applied to estimating theremainder of the channel response. Referring back to hum modulation,since the hum component is common to all the tones (e.g., all PTs andDTs), every PT can be used to smooth the deleterious effects of hummodulation. Also, since the hum frequency is typically known (e.g., 120Hz or 100 Hz), this ‘a priori’ knowledge can be used to improve furtherthe channel estimation and compensation of this component.

In one embodiment, errors which may exist within a channel estimate maybe eliminated and/or reduced using various approaches presented herein,and their equivalents. By providing a means to improve slicerperformance, reduction of any channel estimation error may be achieved.In one embodiment, this allows for a much better performance withinrelatively slowly changing communication channel (relatively predictableand stable communication channels such as within wire-based systems).However, for applications within communication systems whosecommunication channels may be rapidly changing (e.g., wireless,satellite, etc.), the channel estimation may nonetheless still besignificantly improved using various approaches presented herein, andtheir equivalents. This improvement in channel estimation may beachieved without increasing the inefficiency of PTs and may be viewed asa universal advantage for a wide variety of communication systems.

Various approaches presented herein improve on the performance of thechannel estimation in any receiving communication device (e.g., adownstream receiver). Significant degradation in throughput,performances, etc. can be avoided by implementing at least one of theembodiments, or its equivalent, as presented herein. It is also possibleto use more frames (or more signal portions) to estimate the channelfrequency response, since the rapid gain changes due to certain types ofamplitude modulation (e.g., hum modulation) may be tracked andcompensated for using a separate gain term and/or filter tap.

Considering one type of communication system, namely, a cable system,when utilizing OFDM modulation, some characteristics that govern anddrive performance of such a communication system are channel estimation(e.g., employed for setting slicer gain for each data tone) and phasenoise. In cable systems, a desired goal for data tone to pilot toneratio/spacing oftentimes approaches the efficiency of 31/32 (e.g., 31data tones for each 1 pilot tone in a 32 tone signal portion). Thesetones may be spaced apart by some predetermined frequency range (e.g.,333 kilo-Hz (kHz)) to ensure adequate sampling of the spectrum. In oneembodiment, this is in turn derived from the 1.5 micro-second impulseresponse duration. It follows from the Nyquist sampling theory, combinedwith the channel model for the impulse response, that the sampling ofthe frequency domain must be at least 333 kHz. The close tone spacing of10.4 kHz (based on 333 kHz/32 tones) puts severe pressure on the phasenoise performance, which may introduce significant degradation into thecommunication channel/link.

Channel estimation is required to set the phase and gain for slicing thedata tones. Accuracy is very critical, of course, for high order andhigher density modulation signals (e.g., 64 QAM, 256 QAM, 1024 QAM, oreven higher modulation order).

One embodiment, which operates on an OFDM signal, employs adecision-feedback based approach, and it relies on past/previous pilottones plus the hard decisions made on at least one of the data tones (orany number of data tones including up to all of the data tones). Sincethe channel estimate is generally highly correlated for closely spaceddata tones, the decision feedback approach can benefit from andcapitalize upon this correlation to identify likely symbol decisionerrors. These may then be eliminated from contributing to the channelestimation (thereby reducing any error in the channel estimate). Inother words, once the slicer determination is made, then an outputconstellation data point will result for each OFDM channel. Thisconstellation data point can be compared with the input constellationdata point (assuming gross phase alignment) to determine an error vectorbetween the output constellation data point and the input constellationdata point. The error vector can be used to define any error in thechannel estimate (e.g., to characterize the channel), if the outputconstellation data point is assumed (at least temporarily) to becorrect. For example, if the input constellation data point is 2% belowin amplitude from slicer output constellation data point, then the 2%attenuation can be attributed to the channel characteristic.

As can be seen, the actual slicer output data points (e.g., from datatones) are employed in addition to hard decisions from pilot tones forperforming channel estimation. From another perspective, it may be seenthat data tone hard decisions (and/or their associated error terms asgenerated by a slicer) are employed in cooperation with pilot harddecisions (and/or their associated error terms as generated by theslicer) to effectuate an improved channel estimate.

In some embodiments, this is particularly beneficial because there maybe significantly more data tones than pilot tones within an OFDM signal.As such, a more robust channel estimate can be achieved. By usingvarious aspects presented herein to perform channel responsecharacterization, fewer pilot tones may be employed within an OFDMsignal that is currently known in the art. Also, in some embodiments,portions of the OFDM signal need not include any pilot tones whatsoever.

One goal of digital communications systems is to transmit digital datafrom one location, or subsystem, to another either error free or with anacceptably low error rate. As shown in FIG. 1, data may be transmittedover a variety of communications channels in a wide variety ofcommunication systems: magnetic media, wired, wireless, fiber, copper,and/or other types of media (or combinations thereof) as well.

FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 are diagrams which illustrate various embodiments ofcommunication systems, 100 and 200, respectively.

Referring to FIG. 1, this embodiment of a communication system 100 is acommunication channel 199 that communicatively couples a communicationdevice 110 (including a transmitter 112 having an encoder 114 andincluding a receiver 116 having a decoder 118) situated at one end ofthe communication channel 199 to another communication device 120(including a transmitter 126 having an encoder 128 and including areceiver 122 having a decoder 124) at the other end of the communicationchannel 199. In some embodiments, either of the communication devices110 and 120 may only include a transmitter or a receiver.

There are several different types of media by which the communicationchannel 199 may be implemented (e.g., a wireless communication channel140 using local antennae 152 and 154, a wired communication channel 150,and/or a fiber-optic communication channel 160 using electrical tooptical (E/O) interface 162 and optical to electrical (O/E) interface164)). In addition, more than one type of media may be implemented andinterfaced together thereby forming the communication channel 199.

To reduce transmission errors that may undesirably be incurred within acommunication system, error correction and channel coding schemes areoften employed. Generally, these error correction and channel codingschemes involve the use of an encoder at the transmitter and a decoderat the receiver.

The communication device 110 includes an adaptive pilot tone/data tone(PT/DT) module 110 a that is capable to perform functionality of atleast one of the embodiments described herein. Also, the communicationdevice 120 includes an adaptive PT/DT module 120 a that is also capableto perform functionality of at least one of the embodiments describedherein. Each of the modules 110 a and 120 a may operate independentlywithin its respective communication device, or they may operate incooperation with one another.

It is noted that while this embodiment of communication system 100includes communication devices 110 and 120 that include both transmitterand receiver functionality, clearly, communication device 110 couldinclude only transmitter functionality and communication device 120could include only receiver functionality, or vice versa, to supportuni-directional communication (vs. bi-directional communication) inalternative embodiments.

Any of a variety of types of coded signals (e.g., turbo coded signals,turbo trellis coded modulation (TTCM) coded signal, LDPC (Low DensityParity Check) coded signals, Reed-Solomon (RS) coded signal, and/or anycombination of such coded signals, etc.) can be employed within any suchdesired communication system (e.g., including those variations describedwith respect to FIG. 1), any information storage device (e.g., hard diskdrives (HDDs), network information storage devices and/or servers, etc.)or any application in which information encoding and/or decoding isdesired.

Referring to the communication system 200 of FIG. 2, this communicationsystem 200 may be viewed particularly as being a cable system. Forexample, the communication system 200 includes a number of cable modems(shown as CM 1, CM 2, and up to CM n). A cable modem network segment 299couples the cable modems to a cable modem termination system (CMTS)(shown as 240 or 240 a and as described below).

A CMTS 240 or 240 a is a component that exchanges digital signals withcable modems on the cable modem network segment 299. Each of the cablemodems coupled to the cable modem network segment 299, and a number ofelements may be included within the cable modem network segment 299. Forexample, routers, splitters, couplers, relays, and amplifiers may becontained within the cable modem network segment 299.

The cable modem network segment 299 allows communicative couplingbetween a cable modem (e.g., a user) and the cable headend transmitter230 and/or CMTS 240 or 240 a. Again, in some embodiments, a CMTS 240 ais in fact contained within a cable headend transmitter 230. In otherembodiments, the CMTS is located externally with respect to the cableheadend transmitter 230 (e.g., as shown by CMTS 240). For example, theCMTS 240 may be located externally to the cable headend transmitter 230.In alternative embodiments, a CMTS 240 a may be located within the cableheadend transmitter 230. The CMTS 240 or 240 a may be located at a localoffice of a cable television company or at another location within acable system. In the following description, a CMTS 240 is used forillustration; yet, the same functionality and capability as describedfor the CMTS 240 may equally apply to embodiments that alternativelyemploy the CMTS 240 a. The cable headend transmitter 230 is able toprovide a number of services including those of audio, video, localaccess channels, as well as any other service of cable systems. Each ofthese services may be provided to the one or more cable modems (e.g., CM1, CM2, etc.). In addition, it is noted that the cable headendtransmitter 230 may provide any of these various cable services viacable network segment 298 to a set top box (STB) 220, which itself maybe coupled to a television 210 (or other video or audio output device).While the STB 220 receives information/services from the cable headendtransmitter 230, the STB 220 functionality may also supportbi-directional communication, in that, the STB 220 may independently (orin response to a user's request) communicate back to the cable headendtransmitter 230 and/or further upstream.

In addition, through the CMTS 240, the cable modems are able to transmitand receive data from the Internet and/or any other network (e.g., awide area network (WAN), internal network, etc.) to which the CMTS 240is communicatively coupled. The operation of a CMTS, at thecable-provider's head-end, may be viewed as providing analogousfunctions provided by a digital subscriber line access multiplexor(DSLAM) within a digital subscriber line (DSL) system. The CMTS 240takes the traffic coming in from a group of customers on a singlechannel and routes it to an Internet Service Provider (ISP) forconnection to the Internet, as shown via the Internet access. At thehead-end, the cable providers will have, or lease space for athird-party ISP to have, servers for accounting and logging, dynamichost configuration protocol (DHCP) for assigning and administering theInternet protocol (IP) addresses of all the cable system's users (e.g.,CM 1, CM2, etc.), and typically control servers for a protocol calledData Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS), the majorstandard used by U.S. cable systems in providing Internet access tousers. The servers may also be controlled for a protocol called EuropeanData Over Cable Service Interface Specification (EuroDOCSIS), the majorstandard used by European cable systems in providing Internet access tousers, without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention.

The downstream information flows to all of the connected cable modems(e.g., CM 1, CM2, etc.). The individual network connection, within thecable modem network segment 299, decides whether a particular block ofdata is intended for it or not. On the upstream side, information issent from the cable modems to the CMTS 240; on this upstreamtransmission, the users within the group of cable modems to whom thedata is not intended do not see that data at all. As an example of thecapabilities provided by a CMTS, a CMTS will enable as many as 1,000users to connect to the Internet through a single 6 Mega-Hertz channel.Since a single channel is capable of 30-40 Mega-bits per second of totalthroughput (e.g., currently in the DOCSIS standard, but with higherrates envisioned such as those sought after in accordance with thedeveloping DVB-C2 (Digital Video Broadcasting—Second Generation Cable)standard, DVB-T2 (Digital Video Broadcasting—Second GenerationTerrestrial) standard, etc.), this means that users may see far betterperformance than is available with standard dial-up modems.

Some embodiments implementing the invention are described below and inthe various Figures that show the data handling and control within oneor both of a cable modem and a CMTS within a cable system, or any othertype of communication device implemented within any type ofcommunication system (e.g., see FIG. 1), that operates by employingorthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM). The cable modems, theSTB 220, the cable headend transmitter 230, and/or the CMTS 240 (or 240a) may perform channel estimation in accordance with any of the variousaspects described herein, including by employing an adaptive PT/DTmodule therein. As with the previous embodiment of FIG. 1, adaptivePT/DT modules implemented within different components within FIG. 2 mayalso operate in cooperation with one another.

Moreover, it is noted that the cable network segment 298 and the cablemodem network segment 299 may actually be the very same network segmentin certain embodiments. In other words, the cable network segment 298and the cable modem network segment 299 need not be two separate networksegments, but they may simply be one single network segment thatprovides connectivity to both STBs and/or cable modems. In addition, theCMTS 240 or 240 a may also be coupled to the cable network segment 298,as the STB 220 may itself include cable modem functionality therein.

FIG. 3 illustrates an embodiment of an apparatus 300 that processes anorthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) signal to performchannel estimation. An OFDM signal is received from a communicationchannel and is processed initially by a radio frequency (RF) module 310,which may perform gain adjustment thereto. The signal output from the RFmodule 310 is provided to an RF tuner 320 to select the appropriatesignal portion (e.g., in terms of tuned frequency) intended for theapparatus 300. Thereafter, digital sampling (e.g., such as by an analogto digital converter (ADC) 330) generates a discrete time signal (e.g.,a digital signal) from the signal output from the RF tuner 320. An OFDMprocessor 340 performs appropriate processing of its received signal toextract the appropriate signal portion intended for the apparatus 300. Achannel correction module 350 employs a channel estimate (e.g., such asa predetermined channel estimate, a channel estimate provided by channelestimation/detection module 370, etc.) to try to compensate for anydeleterious channel induced effects.

In this embodiment, output hard decisions from a slicer module 360,which is coupled to the channel correction module 350, are fed back tothe channel estimation/detection module 370. The output of the slicermodule 360, for each data tone, is fed back to the channelestimation/detection module 370 for comparison with the input OFDMsignal to determine the channel estimate (e.g., the channel impulseresponse). As discussed above, if the error vector is determined to betoo large, above a certain threshold, then the error term can beweighted or thrown out completely.

It is noted that the channel estimate (e.g., of channel frequencyresponse) is improved by using the symbol decisions to “back out” theslicer error, if any, and the channel estimate can be computed for eachpilot tone with much more data samples, thus reducing any variance thatmay be attributed to thermal noise. Of course, symbol errors areconsidered, since they may operate to increase the error in the channelestimate when they do in fact occur in such a decision feedback scheme.

By comparing the raw “channel estimate/frequency responseestimate+noise” in adjacent data tones (and nearly adjacent, and so on),and by realizing that the channel estimate generally does not varygreatly for adjacent data tones, symbol errors may be identifiedimmediately, and these potentially erroneous symbols may be excluded (ata minimum) from the channel estimation (frequency response estimationprocess) thereby improving channel estimates for use compensating forchannel effects incurred within a signal transmitted across acommunication channel.

FIG. 4 illustrates an alternative embodiment of an apparatus 400 thatprocesses an OFDM signal to perform channel estimation. An OFDM signalis received from a communication channel and processed initially by afront end module 410. The front end module 410 may include an OFDMprocessor implemented 410 a therein, or the front end module 410 mayalternatively be coupled to an OFDM processor 410 b. The front endmodule 410 may perform any necessary pre-processing operations includinggain adjustment, filtering, frequency conversion digital sampling, etc.as may be performed within an analog front end (AFE) module.

The front end module 410 processes and identifies any pilot tones andthe data tones within the OFDM signal (e.g., by using OFDM processor 410a or 410 b). A channel correction module 420 (which may be implementedas an adaptive equalizer 420 a such as a decision feedback equalizer(DFE) and/or a feed forward equalizer (FFE)) compensates for any channeleffects within the received signal. In some respects, the channelcorrection module 420 can be viewed as effectuating an inverse channeltransfer function with respect to the channel transfer function of thecommunication channel by which the OFDM signal is received. The channelestimate employed by the channel correction module 420 may bepredetermined (e.g., a preliminary channel estimate) or adaptivelydetermined (as by channel estimation module 450). The channel estimationmodule 450 may employ any of a variety of means to calculate a channelestimate (e.g., using only pilot tones, using pilot tones and one ormore pseudo-pilot tones, averaging among multiple channel estimates,etc.).

A slicer module 430 processes any pilot tones and data tones within theOFDM signal, which is output from the channel correction module 420thereby generating hard decisions and associated error terms. Any harddecision generated by processing a pilot tone or a data tone has anassociated error term as well (e.g., for a data tone, the error termbeing the difference between the actual symbol value and the symbolvalue associated with a constellation point to which it is mapped; for apilot tone, the error term being the difference between the actual pilottone symbol's value and the predetermined symbol value associated with apredetermined constellation point to which the pilot tone is mapped andcorresponds).

From the slicer module 430, these pilot tone hard decisions are providedto a channel estimation module 450 (as shown by reference numeral 450 atherein). A qualifier module 440 processes one of more data tone harddecisions output from the slicer module 430 (as shown by referencenumeral 440 a within the qualifier module 440) to identify one or morepseudo-pilot tone hard decisions. This identification of a pseudo-pilottone hard decision may be made when the error term corresponding to adata tone hard decision is less than a predetermined threshold value (oran adaptively updated/adjusted threshold value in alternativeembodiments).

The channel estimate module 450 employs the hard decisions associatedwith pilot tones 450 a and one or more pseudo-pilot tone hard decisions450 b in making a channel estimate of the communication channel fromwhich the OFDM signal is received. Also, when a data tone hard decisionqualifies based on a constraint condition being employed forqualification, a sample of the estimated channel frequency response maybe derived by taking the complex ratio of the received value of the datatone divided by the data tone hard decision. This sample of theestimated channel frequency response may be processed using an InverseFourier Transform (IFT) or Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT) therebygenerating a contribution to the time-domain estimated channel impulseresponse from the pseudo-pilot tone, thereby allowing it to be employedas if it were a pilot tone.

It is noted that the channel estimate (e.g., of channel frequencyresponse, as made by the channel estimate module 450) is improved byusing the qualified symbol decisions to “back out” or compute the slicererror on a data tone, if any, and the complex ratio of the receivedsignal to the hard decision value comprises a channel estimate sampledat the frequency of the data tone. A new and improved channel estimatecan be computed with much more data samples, thus reducing any variancethat may be attributed to thermal noise. Of course, symbol errors areconsidered, since they may operate to increase the error in the channelestimate when they do in fact occur in such a decision feedback scheme.

By comparing the raw “channel estimate/frequency responseestimate+noise” in adjacent data tones (and nearly adjacent, and so on),and by realizing that the channel estimate generally does not varygreatly for adjacent data tones, symbol errors may be identifiedimmediately, and these potentially erroneous symbols may be excluded (ata minimum) from the channel estimation (frequency response estimationprocess) thereby improving channel estimates for use compensating forchannel effects incurred within a signal transmitted across acommunication channel.

As is also described in other embodiments herein, various forms ofweighting (e.g., of frames, of tones, etc.) may be employed as well whenmaking the channel estimate (as shown by reference numeral 450 c). Incertain embodiments, the apparatus 400 may include a feedback modulethat transmits a modulation order change request, via the communicationchannel, to a transmitting communication device (e.g., anotherapparatus) based on at least one of the pilot tone error terms or atleast one of the data tone error terms.

For example, when a magnitude of one of the data tone error terms isless than or equal a threshold value (which may be a different thresholdvalue than mentioned above), the modulation order change requestindicates to increase a modulation order (e.g., from 16 QAM up to 64QAM) for subsequently transmitted OFDM signals transmitted from theother communication device to the apparatus 400.

Also, when the magnitude of one of the data tone error terms is greaterthan the threshold value, the modulation order change request indicatesto decrease a modulation order (e.g., from 16 QAM down to QPSK/4 QAM)for subsequently transmitted OFDM signals transmitted from the othercommunication device to the apparatus 400.

Alternatively, when a magnitude of one of the pilot tone error terms isless than or equal to a corresponding threshold, the modulation orderchange request indicates to increase a modulation order (e.g., from 64QAM up to 256 QAM) for subsequently transmitted OFDM signals transmittedfrom the other communication device to the apparatus 400. Also when themagnitude of one of the pilot tone error terms is greater than thecorresponding threshold, the modulation order change request indicatesto decrease the modulation order (e.g., from 64 QAM down to 16 QAM) forsubsequently transmitted OFDM signals transmitted from the othercommunication device to the apparatus 400.

FIG. 5 illustrates an embodiment of an apparatus 500 that includes aslicer and a qualifier to process an OFDM signal to assist with channelestimation. A data tone is provided to a slicer module 530 to generate acorresponding data tone hard decision and a data tone error term thatare employed by a qualifier module 540. It is determined whether thedata tone error term is less than a threshold value in the qualifiermodule 540. If yes, then the corresponding data tone hard decision maybe identified as a pseudo-pilot tone and employed subsequently inchannel estimation. Alternatively, if the data tone error term does notmeet the appropriate selection criterion/criteria (being less than athreshold in this embodiment), then a status of data tone is maintainedto be solely data tone. It is also noted that a pilot tone hard decision(and its associated pilot tone error term), as may be generated by theslicer module 530, may also be employed to perform channel estimation.

FIG. 6 illustrates an embodiment 600 of pilot tones and data toneswithin an OFDM signal. This diagram shows multiple frames of an OFDMsignal with each frame including pilot tones and data tones therein.Each individual data tone may include a corresponding symbol having adifferent modulation type than a corresponding symbol of another datatone.

There may some predetermined pattern of changing modulation types forsymbols in different tones within the OFDM signal or within variousframes of the OFDM signal. In addition, certain adjacent data tones mayinclude symbols having the same modulation type (e.g., mod1 shown asbeing 64 QAM and mod2, being QPSK, which is a relatively lowermodulation order in this diagram).

There may also be predetermined data tone locations within certainframes of the OFDM signal that have predetermined modulation types. Forexample, with such information (e.g., tone #x has QPSK modulation typein each frame), there may be an even greater confidence associated witha symbol extracted from that data tone to qualify it as a pseudo-pilottone. Generally, data tones whose corresponding symbols have relativelylower modulation order types (e.g., 16 QAM, QPSK, etc.) may qualify morefrequently for use than data tones whose corresponding symbols haverelatively higher modulation order types (e.g., 64 QAM, 256 QAM, 1024QAM, etc.).

FIG. 7 illustrates an alternative embodiment 700 of pilot tones and datatones within an OFDM signal. This diagram shows multiple frames of anOFDM signal with each frame including data tones therein and only someof the frames include pilot tones therein. It is noted that employingpilot tones within a frame, although perhaps serving useful purposes inaccordance with channel estimation, generally reduce the overallthroughput capabilities of an OFDM signal. By employing some frames thathave no pilot tones therein, then clearly more information may beincluded within those frames thereby increasing throughput of thesignal.

In addition, by including extra pilot tones (e.g., redundant pilot tonesand/or excess pilot tones) within a frame can provide for an even betterchannel estimate for the communication channel (e.g., more pilot tonesthan are required to make an accurate channel estimate for thecommunication channel based on its maximum delay spread).

This diagram shows frame 1 and frame 3 as having excess pilot tonestherein, yet frame 2 includes no pilot tones therein. As with otherembodiments, the symbols carried via the data tones of these frames mayhave different modulation types. Also, knowledge of this modulation typeorder/pattern may provide for greater confidence associated with asymbol extracted from a particular data tone to qualify it as apseudo-pilot tone.

In this embodiment, possibly highly accurate channel estimates may bemade for the communication channel using frames 1 and 3. If a differencebetween these two channel estimates (e.g., for frames 1 and 3) is withinan acceptable tolerance, then perhaps one of those channel estimates (oran average channel estimate calculated from those two channel estimates)may be employed to process frame 2.

Also, symbols within frame 2 having relatively lower modulation ordermay be associated as having a relatively higher confidence level toassociate data tone hard decisions generated there from as pseudo-tonepilot decisions for use in channel estimation.

When a channel estimate compensation has been applied to the data tonesand/or pilot tones, a channel estimate which is then produced from suchcompensated tones may be considered a residual channel estimate.Residual channel estimates may be combined with the channel correctionto produce the total channel estimate, and/or may be combined withprevious and even future residual channel estimates or total channelestimates (from previous and future frames) to enhance the accuracy of aresidual channel estimate and/or an overall channel estimate. In oneembodiment, some or all data tone symbols within frame 2 are tested forqualification by considering the modulation order of each in conjunctionwith testing data tone error terms against thresholds and/or comparingthe change among samples of the estimated channel frequency response atadjacent and near-adjacent frequencies (corresponding to adjacent andnear-adjacent data tones) against a channel variation-versus-frequencythreshold. Some or all of the qualified data tones (the pseudo-pilottones) may be used for contributing to the estimation of the channelduring this frame, and possibly contributing to the estimation of thechannel during other frames.

In yet another embodiment, of a frame which may or may not include pilottones, one set or a number of sets of qualified data tones and pilottones which are equally spaced in frequency and span across the channelare identified and each such set may be used to generate a channelestimate (e.g., see FIG. 15 for one possible implementation). Thechannel estimates from these various sets may be combined (e.g., anaverage or a weighted average, with the weighting among the plurality ofchannel estimates depending on the qualification parameters of thequalified data tones and/or pilot tones with the sets).

In even another embodiment, one set or a number of sets of equallyspaced pilot tones (and/or pseudo-pilot tones) may be nearly available,but one or more of the sets may be missing one or more of the tones, dueto the tone at the particular spacing interval (in the frequency domain)being not qualified. In such an instance a sample of the estimatedchannel response corresponding to the missing pilot tones orpseudo-pilot tones may be interpolated from adjacent or nearly adjacentpilot tones or pseudo-pilot tones, with such interpolation possiblybased in the frequency domain (e.g., see FIG. 14 for one possibleimplementation). As long as pilot tones and qualified data tones satisfyNyquist spacing criteria based on the upper bound of the time domainduration of the impulse response, even more complex techniques forinterpolating the channel estimate using unevenly spaced samples may beapplied, including least squares matching techniques, in the event ofmissing samples within one or a plurality of the sets.

FIG. 8A illustrates an embodiment of a method 800 a for performingchannel estimation. The method 800 a begins by calculating a firstchannel estimate using only pilot tone hard decisions, as shown in ablock 810 a. The method 800 a continues by updating the first channelestimate using one or more pseudo-pilot tone hard decisions (e.g.,qualified data tone hard decisions), thereby generating a second channelestimate, as shown in a block 820 a.

In this diagram, it can be seen that the use of one or more pseudo-pilottone hard decisions (e.g., qualified data tone hard decisions) may beemployed to increase the fidelity and/or accuracy of a channel estimate.

FIG. 8B illustrates an alternative embodiment of a method 800 b forperforming channel estimation. The method 800 b begins by calculating afirst channel estimate using one or more pseudo-pilot tone harddecisions (e.g., qualified data tone hard decisions) and pilot tone harddecisions, as shown in a block 810 b. The method 800 b continues byupdating the first channel estimate using at least one additionalpseudo-pilot tone hard decision (e.g., at least one additional qualifieddata tone hard decisions), thereby generating a second channel estimate,as shown in a block 820 b.

In this diagram, it can be seen that while one or more pseudo-pilot tonehard decisions (e.g., qualified data tone hard decisions) are employedwhen calculating the first channel estimate, the use of one or moreadditional pseudo-pilot tone hard decisions (e.g., one or moreadditional qualified data tone hard decisions) may be employed toincrease the fidelity and/or accuracy of a channel estimate.

FIG. 9A illustrates an embodiment of a method 900 a for employing andupdating a channel estimate. The method 900 a begins by employing afirst channel estimate (e.g., a predetermined or previously calculated)to correct for channel effects incurred within an OFDM signal by acommunication channel, as shown in a block 910 a.

The method 900 a continues by processing the OFDM signal therebygenerating hard decisions there from (e.g., from the pilot tones anddata tones therein), as shown in a block 920 a. The method 900 acontinues by updating the first channel estimate using pilot tone harddecisions and one or more pseudo-pilot tone hard decisions (e.g.,qualified data tone hard decisions) thereby generating a second channelestimate, as shown in a block 930 a.

FIG. 9B illustrates an alternative embodiment of a method 900 b foreffectuating a modulation order change. The method 900 b begins byslicing a pilot tone thereby generating a pilot tone hard decision andan associated pilot tone error term (e.g., difference betweenpredetermined/expected value for symbols of that pilot tone and what isactually detected), as shown in a block 910 b.

If a magnitude of the associated error term exceeds some thresholdvalue, as determined in a block 920 b, then the method 900 b operates byrequesting a decrease in a modulation order for subsequently transmittedOFDM signals from a transmitting communication device, as shown in ablock 930 b. In one embodiment, this may involve decreasing themodulation order from 64 QAM to 16 QAM or QPSK. Alternatively, if amagnitude of the associated error term does not exceed the thresholdvalue, as determined in a block 920 b, then the method 900 b operates byrequesting an increase in a modulation order for subsequentlytransmitted OFDM signals from a transmitting communication device, asshown in a block 940 b. In one embodiment, this may involve increasingthe modulation order from 64 QAM to 256 QAM.

FIG. 10 illustrates an embodiment of a method 1000 for employing variouschannel estimates to process a signal. The method 1000 begins byemploying a first channel estimate (e.g., a predetermined or previouslycalculated) to correct for channel effects incurred within an OFDMsignal by a communication channel, as shown in a block 1010. The method1000 continues by processing the OFDM signal thereby generating harddecisions from the pilot tones and data tones therein, as shown in ablock 1020.

The method 1000 continues by calculating a second channel estimate usingthe pilot tone hard decisions, as shown in a block 1030. The method 1000then operates by relatively comparing the first channel estimate and thecalculated second channel estimate, as shown in a block 1040. In a block1050, it is determined whether or not the comparison exceeds somethreshold value. If it does not, then the method 1000 then continues tooperate by employing the first channel estimate to correct for channeleffects incurred within a subsequently received OFDM signal by thecommunication channel, as shown in a block 1080.

Alternatively, when the comparison does exceed some threshold value,then the method 1000 continues by updating the first or the secondchannel estimate using pilot tone hard decisions and one or morepseudo-tone hard decisions (e.g., qualified data tone hard decisions)thereby generating a third channel estimate, as shown in a block 1060.The method 1000 then continues to operate by employing the third channelestimate to correct for channel effects incurred within the OFDM signal(and/or a subsequent OFDM signal) received by the communication channel,as shown in a block 1070.

It is noted here that the currently updated or currently calculatedchannel estimate may be employed to go back and re-process any OFDMsignal (or OFDM frame or other signal portion therein) to re-generatehard decisions there from. For example, a first channel estimate may beemployed to correct for channel effects within an OFDM signal and fromwhich first hard decisions are made, and then once the first channelestimate is updated to generate a second channel estimate, that secondchannel estimate may be employed to re-process that very same OFDMsignal to make second hard decisions there from.

FIG. 11 illustrates an embodiment of a method 1100 for employing variouschannel estimates to process a signal. The method 1100 begins bydetermining a maximum delay spread of a communication channel, as shownin a block 1110. This information may be employed to determine a minimalnumber of pilot tones that are adequate to perform an accurate channelestimate for the communication channel from which a signal is received.

Then, as shown in a block 1120, it is determined whether or not the OFDMsignal that is received does indeed include a sufficient number of pilottones to make an accurate channel estimate (e.g., based on thedetermined maximum delay spread of the communication channel). If thereare a sufficient number of pilot tones therein, then the method 1100operates by calculating a first channel estimate using only those pilottone hard decisions (and/or associated error terms) within the OFDMsignal, as shown in a block 1130.

Alternatively, it there are an insufficient number of pilot tonestherein, then the method 1100 operates by identifying at least onepseudo-pilot tone hard decision (e.g., at least one qualified data tonehard decision), as shown in a block 1140. The method 1100 then operatesby calculating a second channel estimate using the pilot tone harddecisions (and/or associated error terms) and the identified at leastone pseudo-pilot tone hard decision (e.g., at least one qualified datatone hard decision), as shown in a block 1150.

FIG. 12 illustrates an embodiment 1200 of weighting of frames, based onpilot tones included therein, when performing channel estimation. Thisdiagram shows how each frame (and the hard decisions made there from) isweighted as a function of the number of pilot tones therein for use incalculating a channel estimate for a communication channel.Alternatively, the ratio of pilot tones to data tones within aparticular frame may be used to determine the particular weight to beattributed for the channel estimate of that particular frame.

If desired, an average channel estimate may be computed using multiplechannel estimates from any two or more frames. This diagram shows anaveraged/weighted channel estimate being calculated using thecorresponding channel estimates from each of frames 1 through n;however, it is noted that any two channel estimates corresponding to anytwo frames may be employed to calculate an averaged/weighted channelestimate for those two frames. Analogously, it is noted that any nchannel estimates corresponding to any n frames may be employed tocalculate an averaged/weighted channel estimate for those n frames.

FIG. 13 illustrates an embodiment 1300 of weighting of frames, based ontime/memory, when performing channel estimation. This diagram shows howeach frame (and the hard decisions made there from) is weighted as afunction of the time/memory. For example, this diagram shows that frame1 is received first, then frame 2, and so on up to frame n. Theweighting of channel estimates associated with each frame is based inone embodiment on how recently it is received in the part. For example,the channel estimate associated with the most recently received frame(e.g., frame n) has the largest weight. The weights applied to thechannel estimates associated with each of the other previously receivedframes are less than or equal to the weight applied to the channelestimates associated with the current (i.e., most recently received)frame.

In another embodiment, a frame may be excluded from the computation ofchannel estimates and composite gain estimates if it has an associatederror power which is above a threshold, which threshold may be relatedto (or derived from or adjusted by) error power of other frames, or setabsolutely, or set depending on other characteristics of the actual ordesired communications (e.g., adaptively determined based on variousparameters). In yet another embodiment, a frame may be weighted by acombination of both its quality (e.g., as measured by error power) andhow recently it was received. This may be viewed as being atwo-dimensional weighting, in that, both time (e.g., received) and aquality parameter are both employed in the weighting.

As with other embodiments herein, if desired with respect to thisdiagram, an average channel estimate may be computed using multiplechannel estimates from any two or more frames. This diagram shows anaveraged/weighted channel estimate being calculated using thecorresponding channel estimates from each of frames 1 through n;however, it is noted that any two channel estimates corresponding to anytwo frames may be employed to calculate an averaged/weighted channelestimate for those two frames. Analogously, it is noted that any nchannel estimates corresponding to any n frames may be employed tocalculate an averaged/weighted channel estimate for those n frames.

In yet another embodiment, by tracking the residual channel estimate(e.g., from frame to frame on a per frame basis), a relatively smalldifference between successive residual channel estimates compared to theresidual channel estimates themselves (e.g., their average) could beindicative of an abrupt channel change before the previous frame. Thisprocessing approach could also be extrapolated to include more framesand even more complicated metrics.

FIG. 14 illustrates an embodiment 1400 of selectively employing datatones when performing channel estimation. This diagram shows how harddecisions associated with adjacent and/or nearby data tones within anOFDM signal may be analyzed and employed for use in performing channelestimation. It may be noted that tones that are relatively closedlocated to one another in the frequency domain may be viewed as havingassociated channel estimates that are relatively close to one another invalue. For example, considering this diagram and if it is assumed thatthe hard decision associated with data tone 3 (DT3) fails because itperhaps has a relatively large slicer error, then it may be estimatedthat the channel estimate associated with that hard decision isincorrect. The channel estimates associated with and employed with eachof data tone 2 (DT2) and data tone 4 (DT4) may be averaged togetherand/or interpolated to calculate a more accurate channel estimate foruse in processing DT3.

In addition, if the slicer error associated with DT3 is too large (basedon some constraint, such as a threshold), then any hard decisionassociated with that DT3 may need to be erased. In general, theassumption that the channel estimate associated with relatively closelyspaced tones (in the frequency domain) is not significantly differentallows intelligent decision making of the channel estimates associatedtherewith. When certain slicer errors are significantly in error, thenintelligently analyzing channel estimates and slicer errors of nearbyand/or adjacent tones can allow for correction/compensation of theerroneous slicer errors and/or erroneous channel estimates.

FIG. 15 illustrates an embodiment 1500 of selectively grouping datatones and/or pilot tones when performing channel estimation. Thisdiagram operates based on creating a channel estimate from a set ofqualified samples of the estimated channel response which are equallyspaced in the frequency domain across the channel, and for creating achannel estimate for each of a plurality of such sets where a pluralityof such sets may exist in a frame.

A first plurality of tones (e.g., pilot tones and/or data tones in tonegroup 1) are employed to make a channel estimate (frequency response) 1,a second plurality of tones (e.g., pilot tones and/or data tones in tonegroup 2) are employed to make a channel estimate (frequency response) 2,and so on until an n-th plurality of tones (e.g., pilot tones and/ordata tones in tone group n) are employed to make a channel estimate(frequency response) n.

In this embodiment, tone group 1 (which may include pilot tones and/ordata tones) includes tones numbered 1, n+1, 2n+1, etc., tone group 2(which may include pilot tones and/or data tones) includes tonesnumbered 2, n+2, 2n+2, etc., and so one up to tone group n (which mayinclude pilot tones and/or data tones) includes tones numbered n, 2n,3n, etc.

For one specific example, considering a portion of a signal (e.g., aframe) including 64 tones, 8 separate tone groups could be used to make8 separate channel estimates (i.e., tones 1, 9, 17, and so on up to 57would form tone group 1; tones 2, 10, 18, and so on up to 58 would formtone group 2; . . . ; and tones 8, 16, 24, and up to 64 would form tonegroup 8).

This provides a number of redundant channel estimates. As with otherembodiments described herein, two or more channel estimates may beprocessed together (e.g., averaged together, weighted and averagedtogether, etc.) to generate an average channel estimate. In addition,the various channel estimates may be compared to one another, and if onechannel estimate appears to be an outlier (e.g., largely different fromthe majority of other channel estimates), then it may be discardedand/or the hard decisions made using that channel estimate may need tobe re-calculated, erased, etc.

It is noted that the various modules (e.g., encoding modules, decodingmodules, channel correction modules, channel correction modules, slicermodules, qualifier modules, etc.) described herein may be a singleprocessing device or a plurality of processing devices. Such aprocessing device may be a microprocessor, micro-controller, digitalsignal processor, microcomputer, central processing unit, fieldprogrammable gate array, programmable logic device, state machine, logiccircuitry, analog circuitry, digital circuitry, and/or any device thatmanipulates signals (analog and/or digital) based on operationalinstructions. The operational instructions may be stored in a memory.The memory may be a single memory device or a plurality of memorydevices. Such a memory device may be a read-only memory, random accessmemory, volatile memory, non-volatile memory, static memory, dynamicmemory, flash memory, and/or any device that stores digital information.It is also noted that when the processing module implements one or moreof its functions via a state machine, analog circuitry, digitalcircuitry, and/or logic circuitry, the memory storing the correspondingoperational instructions is embedded with the circuitry comprising thestate machine, analog circuitry, digital circuitry, and/or logiccircuitry. In such an embodiment, a memory stores, and a processingmodule coupled thereto executes, operational instructions correspondingto at least some of the steps and/or functions illustrated and/ordescribed herein.

The present invention has also been described above with the aid ofmethod steps illustrating the performance of specified functions andrelationships thereof. The boundaries and sequence of these functionalbuilding blocks and method steps have been arbitrarily defined hereinfor convenience of description. Alternate boundaries and sequences canbe defined so long as the specified functions and relationships areappropriately performed. Any such alternate boundaries or sequences arethus within the scope and spirit of the claimed invention.

The present invention has been described above with the aid offunctional building blocks illustrating the performance of certainsignificant functions. The boundaries of these functional buildingblocks have been arbitrarily defined for convenience of description.Alternate boundaries could be defined as long as the certain significantfunctions are appropriately performed. Similarly, flow diagram blocksmay also have been arbitrarily defined herein to illustrate certainsignificant functionality. To the extent used, the flow diagram blockboundaries and sequence could have been defined otherwise and stillperform the certain significant functionality. Such alternatedefinitions of both functional building blocks and flow diagram blocksand sequences are thus within the scope and spirit of the claimedinvention.

One of average skill in the art will also recognize that the functionalbuilding blocks, and other illustrative blocks, modules and componentsherein, can be implemented as illustrated or by discrete components,application specific integrated circuits, processors executingappropriate software and the like or any combination thereof.

Moreover, although described in detail for purposes of clarity andunderstanding by way of the aforementioned embodiments, the presentinvention is not limited to such embodiments. It will be obvious to oneof average skill in the art that various changes and modifications maybe practiced within the spirit and scope of the invention, as limitedonly by the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. An apparatus comprising: an input configured toreceive an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) signal thatincludes a plurality of data tones and a plurality of pilot tones from acommunication channel; a slicer configured to generate a plurality ofdata tone hard decisions and a plurality of data tone error terms basedon the plurality of data tones and to generate a plurality of pilot tonehard decisions and a plurality of pilot tone error terms based on theplurality of pilot tones; and a channel estimator configured to generatea channel estimate of the communication channel based on the pluralityof pilot tone hard decisions, at least one of the plurality of pilottone error terms, and at least one of the plurality of data tone errorterms; and wherein: based on a channel estimate of the communicationchannel, the slicer is configured to generate at least one additionalplurality of data tone hard decisions based on the plurality of datatones.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one additionalplurality of data tone hard decisions is a second plurality of data tonehard decisions; and further comprising: based on at least one additionalchannel estimate of the communication channel, the slicer configured togenerate a third plurality of data tone hard decisions based on theplurality of data tones.
 3. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising:a cable modem that is operative in a cable system.
 4. The apparatus ofclaim 1 further comprising: a feedback module configured to transmit amodulation order change request, via the communication channel, to atleast one additional apparatus based on at least one of the plurality ofpilot tone error terms or at least one of the plurality of data toneerror terms, wherein the OFDM signal is received by the apparatus fromthe at least one additional apparatus via the communication channel. 5.The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising: a communication deviceoperative within at least one of a wireless communication system, awired communication system, and a fiber-optic communication system. 6.An apparatus comprising: an input configured to receive an orthogonalfrequency division multiplexing (OFDM) signal that includes a pluralityof data tones and a plurality of pilot tones from a communicationchannel; a slicer configured to generate a plurality of data tone harddecisions based on the plurality of data tones and to generate aplurality of pilot tone hard decisions and a plurality of pilot toneerror terms based on the plurality of pilot tones; a channel estimatorconfigured to generate the channel estimate of the communication channelbased on the plurality of pilot tone hard decisions and at least one ofthe plurality of pilot tone error terms; and based on a channel estimateof the communication channel, the slicer is configured to generate atleast one additional plurality of data tone hard decisions based on theplurality of data tones.
 7. The apparatus of claim 6, furthercomprising: a cable modem that is operative in a cable system.
 8. Theapparatus of claim 6, further comprising: a cable modem terminationsystem (CMTS) that is implemented within a cable system.
 9. Theapparatus of claim 6, further comprising: the slicer configured toprocess the plurality of data tones to generate the plurality of datatone hard decisions; and based on the channel estimate of thecommunication channel, the slicer configured to re-process the pluralityof data tones to generate the at least one additional plurality of datatone hard decisions.
 10. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein: the at leastone additional plurality of data tone hard decisions is a secondplurality of data tone hard decisions; the channel estimate of thecommunication channel is a first channel estimate of the communicationchannel; and further comprising: a channel estimator configured togenerate the first channel estimate of the communication channel basedon only the plurality of pilot tone hard decisions; and the channelestimator configured to generate a second channel estimate of thecommunication channel based on the plurality of pilot tone harddecisions and at least one of the plurality of pilot tone error terms;and based on the second channel estimate of the communication channel,the slicer configured to generate a third plurality of data tone harddecisions based on the plurality of data tones.
 11. The apparatus ofclaim 6, further comprising: a feedback module configured to transmit amodulation order change request, via the communication channel, to atleast one additional apparatus based on at least one of the plurality ofpilot tone error terms or at least one of the plurality of data toneerror terms, wherein the OFDM signal is received by the apparatus fromthe at least one additional apparatus via the communication channel. 12.The apparatus of claim 6, further comprising: the slicer configured togenerate a plurality of data tone error terms based on the plurality ofdata tones; and the channel estimator configured to generate the channelestimate of the communication channel based on the plurality of pilottone hard decisions, the at least one of the plurality of pilot toneerror terms, and at least one of the plurality of data tone error terms.13. The apparatus of claim 6 further comprising: a communication deviceoperative within at least one of a wireless communication system, awired communication system, a fiber-optic communication system, and acable system.
 14. A method for execution by a communication device, themethod comprising: via an input of the communication device, receivingan orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) signal thatincludes a plurality of data tones and a plurality of pilot tones from acommunication channel; generating a plurality of data tone harddecisions based on the plurality of data tones; generating a pluralityof pilot tone hard decisions and a plurality of pilot tone error termsbased on the plurality of pilot tones; generating the channel estimateof the communication channel based on the plurality of pilot tone harddecisions and at least one of the plurality of pilot tone error terms;and based on a channel estimate of the communication channel, generatingat least one additional plurality of data tone hard decisions based onthe plurality of data tones.
 15. The method of claim 14, wherein thecommunication device is a cable modem that is operative in a cablesystem.
 16. The method of claim 14, wherein the communication device isa cable modem termination system (CMTS) that is implemented within acable system.
 17. The method of claim 14, wherein: the at least oneadditional plurality of data tone hard decisions is a second pluralityof data tone hard decisions; the channel estimate of the communicationchannel is a first channel estimate of the communication channel; andfurther comprising: generating a plurality of pilot tone hard decisionsand a plurality of pilot tone error terms based on the plurality ofpilot tones; generating the first channel estimate of the communicationchannel based on only the plurality of pilot tone hard decisions;generating a second channel estimate of the communication channel basedon the plurality of pilot tone hard decisions and at least one of theplurality of pilot tone error terms; and based on the second channelestimate of the communication channel, generating a third plurality ofdata tone hard decisions based on the plurality of data tones.
 18. Themethod of claim 14 further comprising: transmitting a modulation orderchange request, via the communication channel, to at least oneadditional communication device based on at least one of the pluralityof pilot tone error terms or at least one of the plurality of data toneerror terms, wherein the OFDM signal is received by the communicationdevice from the at least one additional communication device via thecommunication channel.
 19. The method of claim 14 further comprising:generating a plurality of data tone error terms based on the pluralityof data tones; and generating the channel estimate of the communicationchannel based on the plurality of pilot tone hard decisions, the atleast one of the plurality of pilot tone error terms, and at least oneof the plurality of data tone error terms.
 20. The method of claim 14,wherein the communication device is operative within at least one of awireless communication system, a wired communication system, and afiber-optic communication system.